MusicRadar summer festival guide 2011

31st May 2011 | 16:21

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MusicRadar summer festival guide 2011

Our round-up of all the festival action over the coming months

Welcome to MusicRadar's guide to to all of 2011's summer festival action. Looking for events to spend your hard earned cash on over the next few months? Want to work out where and when you can catch your favourite bands and DJs? Well you've come to the right place!

Whether you're after a cosy folk festival, a dance-fuelled rave-up, an inner-city event or a bunch of metal bands in a field, we've rounded-up our pick of some of the UK's best festivals, plus a few of our favourites from Europe. Check out each individual festival's page for information on line-ups, tickets, locations and even (in some cases) how you or your band can get a chance to play.

Use the calender below to jump to info on any festival, or scroll though to browse them all. And don't forget to keep checking back as we add more events, extra information and the latest coverage from the festivals themselves.

All Tomorrow's Parties

13 - 15 May

All Tomorrow's Parties is fairly unique for two reasons - for one thing it takes place in a Butlins holiday park in Minehead, providing festival goers with accomodation in chalets. Also though, ATP builds line-ups by inviting one band or artist to play and curate the rest of the bill (including an in-chalet TV channel).

Headliners/curators: Animal Collective

Dates: 13 - 15 May

Location: Butlins, Minehead, Somerset

Tickets: Weekend tickets £170/£180, must be booked as part of a chalet. 2, 4 and 6 berths still available.

Primavera Sound (Spain)

26 - 28 May

Set just outside Barcelona, Primavera thrives on a strong line-up of leftfield rock acts by day and forward-thinking dance music by night. There's no camping so you'd need to sort somewhere to stay in the city.

Isle Of Wight

10 - 12 June

The Isle Of Wight festival takes place on the site of the legendary festivals of the late '60s (although the two aren't actually connected). These days the festival brings a line-up of big name rock and pop acts to the island.

Meltdown

10 - 19 June

An annual series of concerts and events taking place at London's South Bank Centre under the watchful eye of a different curator each year. This year The Kinks' Ray Davies steps up to helm the festival, bringing varied mix of reformed old rockers, modern bands and classical performances to the capital.

A chance to play?: Sort of. Right now Sonar are auctioning off the chance to play a 50 minute DJ set at this year's festival. Bidding starts at 1 Euro, but we imagine it'll end up going for a lot more... Full details here.

Sónar Pro: In 2010 the Sonar Pro event that runs alongside Sonar played host to gear demos and masterclasses from the likes of Pioneer, Steinberg, Yamaha, Ableton and Novation, among others. There's also an assortment of exclusive conferences and services for professionally accredited festival-goers. Check out our full preview for details.

Glastonbury

22 - 26 June

The UK's biggest and most famous festival, packing innumerable acts and an unrivalled atmosphere over three days in a Somerset field.

Chance to play?: Glastonbury's annual Emerging Talent Competition offers band the chance to get a slot at the festival, although the deadline has now passed to enter this year, it's worth keeping in mind for future events. Some of the festival's smaller stages accept artist submissions, while BBC Introducing also invite a selection of up-and-coming and unsigned acts to the festival each year.

Roskilde (Denmark)

30 June - 3 July

One of mainland Europe's biggest and most famous festivals, boasting not only an impressively stacked line-up of big name bands, but also the traditional, annual naked race.

Sonisphere (UK leg)

8 - 10 July

Sonisphere is a metal festival that takes place at various locations across Europe. The UK leg boast possibly the biggest heavy metal event of the summer: the big four of thrash playing together on these shores for the first time ever.

Chance to play?:Tennent's Tbreak gives unsigned Scottish artists a chance to play the festival. The deadline for demos for 2011 has now passed but you can sign up for information for future events. BBC Introducing also hosts a stage of new bands at the festival.

Benicassim (Spain)

14 - 17 July

Four days of music in a rather-lovely Spanish beach resort, what's not to like? Plus 2011 see one of the festival's strongest line-ups of the past few years.

Latitude

14 - 17 July

Latitude is one of the UK's more sedate festivals. Set in pretty countryside in Suffolk it sees a large line-up of bands and comedians perform side-by-side with tapings of Radio 4 shows and various literature events.

Live Fest

23 July

One of the UK’s biggest indoor music festivals, with a line-up featuring a number of mainstream-urban and indie heavyweights. Live Fest also acts as the grand final of this year’s Live And Unsigned competition.

Headliners: N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder, Roll Deep

A chance to play?: The Live and Unsigned Competition gives unsigned artists across the UK a chance to play the festival. The deadline for entries for 2011 has now passed but keep an eye on their website for information on future events.

High Voltage

23 - 24 July

Our good friends at Classic Rock and Metal Hammer magazines bring a huge line-up of classic rock and prog legends to the capital.

Global Gathering

29 - 30 July

One of the UK's biggest dance music festivals, Global Gathering has one multiple 'best festival' awards from various DJ magazines.This year's event rounds-up big names from the worlds of house, techno and dubstep, among other things.

Bestival

8 - 11 September

Bestival has grown to expand on its boutique origins over the past few years to become one of the UK's hottest tickets. Even though it's bigger in size these days the boutique vibe remains, including annual themed fancy dress.